A millionaire investor and former Ross Perot adviser beat political brawler Jim Mattox to become Texas Democrats' candidate for the U.S. Senate. Richard Fisher will face Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the fall. With all but three precincts counted, Fisher had 54% of the vote to 46% for Mattox. In other races, the GOP chose two U.S. House candidates: Jo Baylor and Bobby Ortiz; the Democrats picked Ken Bentsen, nephew of Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen.

Republicans released a lengthy list of speakers for next month's national convention on Monday amid fresh complaints from Patrick J. Buchanan's camp that conservatives are being shoved aside as Bob Dole seeks to project a softer, moderate GOP image. Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour said the convention would be a "festival of Republican ideas" with an emphasis on how a Dole administration would improve the lives of "real people."

Temporarily halting consideration of the federal budget, the Senate honored Armed Services Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) on Wednesday for becoming only the second senator in history to vote 15,000 times. It was a procedural vote on an appropriations bill that prompted Thurmond to reach the milestone. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), who is about 140 votes ahead of Thurmond, achieved the 15,000-mark in May.

The Senate approved $1.5 billion in additional spending Friday for veterans' healthcare programs strained by seriously wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. By a vote of 99 to 1, the Senate approved the emergency funds that were passed by the House on Thursday. The legislation, attached to an unrelated spending bill for environmental programs, now goes to the White House for President Bush's signature.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) has hired Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who was the lawyer for cult leader David Koresh, to lead her defense against official misconduct charges, her office announced Tuesday. Hutchison also named to her defense team University of Texas law professor Michael Tigar, who is representing John Demjanjuk in his effort to regain his U.S. citizenship after being acquitted on charges that he was a Nazi war criminal.

A group promoting women in politics is asking the country to determine which women would be capable of running for president. The White House Project on Thursday announced plans to mail 1 million ballots listing 20 prominent women and asking people to pick five they think are capable of seeking the White House. The group also plans to place ballots in such magazines as Parade, Glamour, Jane, Essence and People and on its Web site: www.thewhitehouseproject.

The Senate Armed Services Committee recommended Thursday that Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, the Navy's top officer, be allowed to retire as a full admiral despite damage done to his record by the Tailhook scandal. In a 20-2 vote, the committee recommended to the full Senate that Kelso retire at four-star rank, as recommended by President Clinton. If the Senate accepts the recommendation, Kelso would retire with an annual pension of $84,340.

A grand jury probing charges of misuse of funds issued a subpoena Friday for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.). Hutchison, who was elected to fill Lloyd Bentsen's seat after he was appointed Treasury secretary by President Clinton, was ordered to appear Thursday, a court official said. The grand jury probe began five days after Hutchison won a landslide victory in June over Democratic challenger and interim U.S. Sen. Robert Krueger.

With a top Republican indicted last month, pundits and politicians who spouted off about the Clinton impeachment have been voicing fresh takes on perjury accusations. *** Commentator Christopher Hitchens Then: "He's prepared to employ and exploit his Cabinet, the Pentagon, the U.S. Office of the United Nations, the entire White House staff on what is not public business.... I think he should be cuffed and taken downtown." -- discussing President Clinton on "Meet the Press," Nov.

Politicians eager to dump their campaign contributions from beleaguered Enron Corp. are pumping money into a Houston organization seeking to help the bankrupt energy giant's laid-off employees. The Greater Houston Community Foundation had been informally discussing how to help many of the 4,500 employees who found themselves jobless in early December after Enron filed for bankruptcy. "We had great ideas and no funding," said Emelda Douglas, director of donor services.